Racism in America: US History Essay on Discrimination and Inequality

This essay provides an overview of racism in the United States, tracing its origins from the colonial era and highlighting its enduring impact on African Americans. The essay analyzes four articles and a book that explore the historical and socioeconomic aspects of racism. These sources examine the dual character of African American culture, the impact of educational policies like Brown v. Board of Education, the mis-education of the Negro, and the politics of skin color. The essay draws on works by Shirley Carlson, Jack Balkin, Carter Woodson, and Russell, Wilson, and Hall to illustrate the complexities of racial prejudice, discrimination, and inequality in America. It concludes that negative attitudes towards African people are persistent issues, emphasizing the long-term nature of racism as a historical problem.

Running head: US HISTORY
US History
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1US HISTORY
Introduction
The concept of racism in the United States has been one of the widespread issues from
the beginning of the colonial era. From the view of the United Nations, some of the major
ethnically structured and racial configured institutions include segregations, Native American
reservations and slavery. The assignment summarizes four articles on the topic of racism that has
been one of the major prevailing issues among the African American people and the continuing
racism that has reflected over the socio economic inequality.
Body
According to Shirley Carlson in the article " Black Ideals of womanhood in the late
Victorian era", the dual character of the African American culture has been illustrated vividly.
The article focuses on how black Americans have grown the culture towards the incorporation of
the negative attitudes towards the Africans1. The article focuses on the Illinois in the eve of the
historian era that range from 1880 to 1910 arguing the dual culture of the black Americans
towards their ideology of womanhood.
In the article by Jack Balkin, "Would African Americans Have Been Better Off Without
Brown v. Board of Education? ", the author queries on the subsequent impact on the history of
education opportunity for the African Americans in the country of United States. The editor
explained that the supreme courts enforced the equal and the separate rule of Plessy v. Ferguson
that tends to produce better opportunities in education for the blacks than the forced integration
1 Carlson, Shirley J. "Black ideals of womanhood in the late Victorian era." The Journal of Negro History 77, no. 2
(1992): 61-73.

2US HISTORY
of the race2. The article highlights the original strategy of Charles Hamilton towards the
enforcing of the Plessy for equal schooling system in the southern states.
Carter Woodson in "The mis-education of the negro", recorded not the reflections on the
participatory education system of the black, brown as compared to the white races in temperate
and the tropical regions of both the hemispheres3. Together with the commitment of some of the
errors, the author of the article depicts his intention of not disrespecting or hurting the practice of
any of the particular class The article furthermore does not illustrates the progress of the
discriminated race. The article explains the so called modern education that has not reflected
much of the changes in terms of philosophy and ethics towards the Negro population.
In the book "The Color Complex", the authors presented some of the essential and powerful
arguments that are backed by the anecdotal and the historical facts of evidences projecting the
politics of the skin color, the prejudice that remain as one the devastating factor among the black
African Americans4. The book highlights the era from the year 1607 which originated the factor
of the color complex by the white natives towards the black Africans whom they used to enslave.
The book primarily focused on how the African people used to engage in sexual affairs and
marriage with the Indian women due to the shortage of African women. The book furthermore
highlights the context of 1667 where the Christian laws related to slavery was hurriedly passed
for ensuring the rights of the white colonists to keep their servants for life. The authors in the
2 Balkin, Jack M. "Would African Americans have been better off without Brown v. Board of Education?." (2002).
3 Woodson, Carter G. The mis-education of the Negro. Book Tree, 2006.
4 Russell, Kathy, Midge Wilson, and Ronald E. Hall. The color complex: The politics of skin color among African
Americans. Anchor, 1993.

3US HISTORY
book depicts the attitudes regarding the skin color which eventually evolved against the
backdrop of the politics, rape, power, war and privileges in America.
Conclusion
It can thus be concluded that the negative attitudes of the immigrants and the negative
interactions towards the African people are some of the frequent globally circulated factors in the
current era. The essay focused on the topic of racism which has been a long term issue back from
the historic time.

4US HISTORY
Reference
Balkin, Jack M. "Would African Americans have been better off without Brown v. Board of
Education?." (2002).
Carlson, Shirley J. "Black ideals of womanhood in the late Victorian era." The Journal of Negro
History 77, no. 2 (1992): 61-73.
Russell, Kathy, Midge Wilson, and Ronald E. Hall. The color complex: The politics of skin color
among African Americans. Anchor, 1993.
Woodson, Carter G. The mis-education of the Negro. Book Tree, 2006.